A women’s collective has proposed the names of about 150 women who can be fielded in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections to prod secular parties to be more inclusive.
Names of writers, lawyers, social activists, film stars and transwomen are among those suggested by Sthree Koottayma (women’s collective in Malayalam) in its fight for equal rights.
“The names of many women who have done well in their respective areas of activity have been included without their permission since this is more of an awareness campaign to win our rights. The idea is to provide a list so that political parties won’t have the excuse of saying there are not enough women who can be fielded,” social activist and a member of the collective, Aleyamma Vijayan, told The Telegraph on Friday.
The social media campaign launched on Friday morning has received a lot of support. “Many people have even started sending more names to be included in the list. This shows that there is no dearth of capable women to contest any kind of election and ensure we are well represented in all elected bodies,” Aleyamma said.
The CPM has 12 women among the 84 persons whose names have been announced.
“No party will give more than 10 per cent of the seats to women,” Aleyamma said.
Among those named by the collective are noted writers Sarah Joseph, K.R. Meera, Khadeeja and Saradakutty, film stars Parvathy Thiruvothu and Rima Kallingal, Kerala Trans Justice Board member Sheetal Shyam and her compatriot Vijaya Mallika, state Mahila Congress president Lathika Subhash, Congress leader Bindu Krishna, former MLA Jameela Prakasham of the Janata Dal Secular and Oleena A.G. of the CPM.
Lathika Subhash on Sunday resigned and tonsured her head because she was not nominated. The Congress list of 86 candidates has nine women.
“I will continue to suffer humiliation if I don’t take this step at least now. Why should I wait for crumbs? At least now the Congress should be ready to take a position on giving sufficient seats to women,” she said before getting her head shaved in front of the party office in Thiruvananthapuram.
Lathika, 56, was not forthcoming about her next move.
Aleyamma said only those with “secular credentials” had been included in the list of potential candidates.
Sarah Joseph welcomed the idea but cautioned that merely adding numbers in the existing system would not help the cause.
“The patriarchy-driven perspective must change to enable women, transgender persons, Dalits and minorities to thrive in the system. Otherwise there’s no point including more women who end up nodding to whatever the patriarchal system says,” she told The Telegraph.
“Everyone talks about 33 per cent reservation for women. But even the Congress and the CPM do not implement that. So it’s a good thing that this collective has put forth names of highly capable women,” she said, adding it’s another matter that many women might not like the pulls and pressures of politics.
Sheetal Shyam had no idea about her name being included in such a list until this newspaper spoke to her. “It’s a pleasant surprise that they included me in the list. But I am currently not inclined to contest any election,” she said.
The Left-leaning Sheetal, however, appreciated the idea. “It’s important to tell the parties that there are enough women who can take the electoral field and even win and do very well, like our own health minister (K.K.) Shailaja Teacher,” she said.
